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Gender and the Homoerotic Logic of Torture at Abu Ghraib

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Gender and the Homoerotic Logic of Torture at Abu Ghraib GENDER AND THE HOMOEROTIC LOGIC OF TORTURE AT ABU GHRAIB A Dissertation by RYAN ASHLEY CALDWELL Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2007 Major Subject: Sociology GENDER AND THE HOMOEROTIC LOGIC OF TORTURE AT ABU GHRAIB A Dissertation by RYAN ASHLEY CALDWELL Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved by: Chair of Committee, Stjepan G. Mestrovic Committee Members, Don E. Albrecht William A. McIntosh John J. McDermott Head of Department, Mark Fossett August 2007 Major Subject: Sociology iii ABSTRACT Gender and the Homoerotic Logic of Torture at Abu Ghraib. (August 2007) Ryan Ashley Caldwell, B.A., Austin College; M.A., Texas Tech University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Stjepan G. Mestrovic The focus of this dissertation is a social and cultural theoretical analysis of the empirical data regarding the prison abuse that occurred at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq by American forces. I provide the following: an examination of the photographs of abuse that were leaked to the press in the fall of 2003; an analysis of both Lynndie England’s and Sabrina Harman’s courts-martial (two of the “rotten apples”); a discussion of the body associated with punishment and torture, and also as marked in ways of identification; and an assessment of additional representations regarding prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. Throughout this analysis, I use gender as a lens to understand Abu Ghraib and the subsequent courts-martial. It is important to note that I gained access to and was intimately involved as a graduate researcher for Dr. Stjepan G. Mestrovic, an expert for the defense, and experienced the events of the trials themselves, first-hand and during closed counsel and open session. The empirical data provided is drawn primarily from first-hand qualitative research that involved participant-observation of two trials, interaction with soldiers and iv officers, and analysis of both documents pertaining to the trial as well as the photographs of abuse themselves, among other things. I incorporate cultural studies, feminist and sociological theory (modern and postmodern), and feminist philosophy so as to provide a theoretical analysis of the abuse at Abu Ghraib and the subsequent courts-martial focused on gender and sexuality. The result of this dissertation is a social and cultural theoretical analysis of the empirical data regarding the prison abuse that occurred at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq by American forces, where women, gender, and sexuality are shown to be important criteria for examination. Specifically, the results of this project highlight areas that current analyses of the abuse at Abu Ghraib have left out: how women fit into American military politics, how gender functions as power within the military, how gender is socially constructed in the military in terms of heterosexuality, and how both gender and sexuality are used as weapons by the American military. This kind of examination is useful in future policy considerations for the military and for detainee treatment, where analyses of women, gender, sexuality, and power have been so far neglected in any serious way, and even by sociologists Phillip Zimbardo and the application of his Stanford Prison Study to the events of Abu Ghraib. v DEDICATION The following project is dedicated to my family and friends who have helped me lovingly realize my dream imagined, and to my mentor Dr. Stjepan Mestrovic for his tireless advising and friendship. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Deep thanks are due to my family and friends for the emotional support needed to complete this manuscript. I could not have finished this without all of you. I would especially like to thank my mother, Lynn Slaughter, for her unwavering belief and confidence in me, and for the always free room and board. Also, many thanks to my father, William Caldwell, and to my brother and his wife, Thomas and Emily Caldwell, for having faith in me and my project. Tom Slaughter, thanks for all of your encouragement and also for putting up with my many pets and their perpetual “gifts.” Additionally, I would like to thank Don Albrecht, Alex McIntosh, John McDermott and especially Stjepan Mestrovic. In the future, I can only hope to be the kind of professor that these gentlemen demonstrated through their interactions with me. Mestrovic and McDermott, I am so honored that you were a part of this process and your fingerprints are all over my writing, theorizing, and professional work. Keith Kerr, I thank you deeply for your friendship and your camaraderie. I would also like to recognize my many mentors along the way: Rod Steward, Mark Hebert, Karann Durland, Alice Sowaal, Mark Webb, Ed Averill, and Joseph Ransdell. Many thanks to Tony Carroll for helping me keep my mind and wits about me and to RZA for dealing with the previous when they were a mess. This dissertation is presented in memory of Jean Baudrillard, with whom I had always hoped to work with before his untimely passing. Unfortunately, I have only experienced a taped-version of one of Baudrillard’s lectures, and in typical postmodern fashion given the poor production of the video, there were no visual images and only barely audible sound. Finally, many thanks to my beloved pets for keeping me company during the past 15 years of my formal education, curled up at my feet, always cheering me on and providing companionship with their presence, both seen and unseen. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................iii DEDICATION ...................................................................................................................v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..............................................................................................vi TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................................vii LIST OF FIGURES...........................................................................................................ix 1. INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................1 2. IT WAS NOT LUCIFER ACHIEVED: ZIMBARDO, WOMEN, AND ABU GHRAIB.......................................................................................................................19 2.1 Zimbardo’s Prison Study..................................................................................21 2.2 Milgram and the Absence of Authority Figures...............................................25 2.3 Back to Zimbardo and Abu Ghraib..................................................................36 2.4 Cultural Code of Masculinity...........................................................................39 3. GENDER, POWER, AND THE “RATIONALIZATION” OF RATIONALITY: USES OF THE MASCULINE AND FEMININE SYMBOLIC NARRATIVES .......53 3.1 The Enlightenment Project and Rationality .....................................................54 3.2 The Prison: Abu Ghraib ...................................................................................57 3.3 Foucault and Power..........................................................................................68 3.4 Durkheim..........................................................................................................83 3.5 Moving Beyond Foucault’s Continuum of Punishment and Cruelty...............86 3.6 The “Rationalization” of Rationality................................................................90 4. ABU GHRAIB, PARSONIAN GENDER ROLES, AND COURTS- MARTIAL EXPERIENCES ........................................................................................94 4.1 Instrumental and Expressive ............................................................................95 4.2 Meeting With the Defense Attorney: September 21, 2005, The Trial of Lynndie England .............................................................................................99 viii Page 4.3 Instrumental Responsibility: September 22, 2005, Courts-Martial of Lynndie England ............................................................................................105 4.4 Expert Witnesses: Instrumental Help to the Rescue, September 27, 2005, Courts-Martial of Lynndie England ...............................................................110 4.5 Expressive Harman and Instrumental Crimes, May 16, 2005, Courts- Martial of Sabrina Harman.............................................................................114 4.6 Gilligan and the Pyramid: Instrumental and Expressive Torture...................124 5. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF IDENTITY SIMULACRA AND GENDER HYPERREALITY: AMERICAN MILITARY AND THE CASE OF ABU GHRAIB.....................................................................................................................134 5.1 Identity and Signification as Hyperreal Simulacra: Maps and the “Metrosexual Soldier”...................................................................................139 5.2 “Power-Simulacra” and Gender Categories...................................................146 5.3 Seduction and Drag ........................................................................................152 5.4 The Simulacra of Gender at Abu Ghraib and the Courts-Martial ..................160 6. REPRESENTATIONS OF ABU GHRAIB AND
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